Search results

To advance the scholarly understanding of family firm management by outlining the Australian experience with “real” differences between family and non‐family firms.

Utilising data from 2,190 Australian SMEs, industry based analysis focused on whether family businesses differ significantly from non‐family businesses within the framework of multivariate regression models that control for size and age of the firm.

The level of difference with non‐family firms is industry specific, varied, and generally lower than reported in the past. Manufacturing is the industry with most differences.

There are fewer differences between family and non‐family firms than we have been led to believe. Methodologies that control for context are essential. Studies are needed that explain why family firms differ more with non‐family firms in some industries than they do in others. Studies that uncover the “real” differences between large family and non‐family firms are also called for as the results shown here may be specific to SMEs. Agency theory may be more appropriate to large rather than small firms.

The level of context and size of dataset utilised in this study is rarely seen in family business research. Its value lays in bringing “real” Australian differences to the attention of scholars, supporting the need for better methodologies, demonstrating the importance of industry and size as determinants of context and outlining the heterogeneous nature of family firms.

Using the EU‐KLEMS database for 12 countries and 16 industries, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences in technological capital intensity (R&D capital stock as a percentage of GVA) between industries and the evolution of inequalities between the EU‐11 and the USA, as well as between EU countries.

The authors use shift‐share analysis and a Theil inequality index to break down these inequalities and to quantify the importance of either a country or a specialization effect.

Results from the shift‐share analysis show that there was a technological gap in favor of the USA until the mid‐1990s linked to the greater accumulation of technological capital in most of the productive sectors considered, this being the main reason for the differences in technological innovation between the USA and the EU‐11. However, since 1995 a change in productive specialization has occurred, with a significant drop in the weight of lower technology‐intensive industries in the EU‐11 economy, as well as a significant drop in the weight of some medium technology‐intensive industries in the USA, accounting for the reduction in the technological gap between the EU and the USA. Results from the Theil index show that the differences in the productive structure of European countries explain most of their differences in technological capital intensity.

The study discusses the issue from the standpoint of the distribution of technological innovation across industries. The variable analyzed and constructed is R&D capital stock and not R&D expenditures. It applies a methodology (shift‐share analysis and Theil index) not commonly used to analyze technological innovation inequalities.

Pakistan adopted “one-size-fits-all” policy for human capital (HC) development with the assumption that the level of HC is equal across industry and firm size. The purpose of this paper is to test this major assumption on which this policy is based, by comparing the differences in the levels of HC, overall and by dimensions of HC, by industry and firm size.

The study is based on new data set of a sample of 750 manufacturing SME firms in Pakistan, compiled through a survey. Applying the independent sample t-test, one way analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance, the hypotheses of differences in levels of overall and dimensions of HC were tested.

The results indicate significant differences in the levels of HC by industry and firm size. The levels of HC were found to be higher in textiles, food, metal and leather industries, and for medium-sized firms.

The findings provide supporting evidence on the inadequacy of the current human capital development (HCD) policy in Pakistan. The study therefore recommends customized HCD policies, accounting for differences across industry and firm size.

By taking the data on nine major dimensions of HC from 750 manufacturing sector SMEs, the study tests the level of overall HC and its nine dimensions by industry and size. The study also challenges the “one-size-fits-all” policy of the government of Pakistan for developing HC in SMEs.

Institutions, social norms and the nature of industrial relations vary greatly between Latin American and Western European countries. Such institutional and organizational differences might shape firms’ operational environment in general and the type of competition in product and labor markets in particular. The purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify industry differences in product and labor market imperfections in Chile and France.

The authors rely on two extensions of Hall’s econometric framework for estimating price-cost margins by nesting three labor market settings (LMS) (perfect competition (PC) or right-to-manage bargaining, efficient bargaining (EB) and monopsony). Using an unbalanced panel of 1,737 firms over the period 1996-2003 in Chile and 14,270 firms over the period 1994-2001 in France, the authors first classify 20 comparable manufacturing industries in six distinct regimes that differ in the type of competition prevailing in product and labor markets. The authors then investigate industry differences in the estimated product and labor market imperfection parameters.

Consistent with differences in institutions and in the industrial relations system in the two countries, the authors find regime differences across the two countries and cross-country differences in the levels of product and labor market imperfection parameters within regimes.

This study is the first to compare the type and the degree of industry-level product and labor market imperfections inferred from consistent estimation of firm-level production functions in a Latin American and a Western European country. Using firm-level output price indices, the microeconomic production function estimates for Chile are not subject to the omitted output price bias, as is often a major drawback in microeconometric studies of firm behavior.

The purpose of this study is to examine the association between auditor industry specialization and accounting quality in the European Union (EU).

This study employs a difference-in-differences design and explores audit quality from different industry specialist perspectives and different accounting standard regimes. Specifically, this study examines accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists, EU member country-level industry specialists (EUM-level), EU community-level industry specialists (EUC-level), as well as joint industry specialists.

This study finds evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists post-IFRS. There is also evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by EUC-level industry specialists post-IFRS. In addition, accounting quality among audits performed by EUM-level industry specialists seems to be greater than that of audits performed by non-industry specialists in either the pre-IFRS period or the post-IFRS period. Overall, the mandatory adoption of IFRS in the EU appears to be associated with an improvement in accounting quality among some auditor groups.

Industry specialization and accounting quality are not directly observable constructs; this study inevitably employs proxy measures for both. The findings of this study are location-specific and apply to mandatory IFRS adopters only.

This study informs regulators with respect to the importance of industry specialist auditors and financial reporting quality, particularly within the context of the EU. The findings suggest that industry specialists were a significant accounting quality determinant during the mandatory adoption of IFRS. The findings have implications for regulators in the EU and beyond.

This study is among the first to investigate the impact of auditor specialization on accounting quality in the EU, particularly in connection with the adoption of IFRS.

This paper uses two complementary approaches to estimate the effect of right-to-work (RTW) laws on wages and unionization rates. The first approach uses an event study design to analyze the impact of the adoption of RTW laws in five US states since 2011. The second approach relies on a differential exposure design that exploits the differential impact of RTW laws on industries with high unionization rates relative to industries with low unionization rates. Both approaches indicate that RTW laws lower wages and unionization rates. Under the assumption that RTW laws only affect wages by lowering the unionization rate, RTW can be used as an instrumental variable (IV) to estimate the causal effect of unions on wages. In our preferred specification based on the differential exposure design, the IV estimate of the effect of unions on log wages is 0.35, which substantially exceeds the corresponding OLS estimate of 0.16. This large wage effect suggests that RTW may also directly affect wages due to a reduced union threat effect.

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences among industry classes and supply chain positions in order to gain insight into quality management program maturity across industries and within supply chains.

Data for comparison in this study comes from an e-mail survey of professionals across the USA, employed primarily in sourcing or logistics (i.e. Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)).

This study found that quality maturity varies by industry class. While prior studies have found differences by industry class, they have been limited to at most three classes, while this study examined 17 classes. This study also examines quality maturity by supply chain position, with the finding that quality maturity differed by supply chain position depending on how position is defined. Questions are raised regarding the proper characterization of supply chain position.

The sample group represents members in only two professional groups, ISM and CSCMP. Not all industry groups or supply chain positions were well-represented due to some small sub-group sizes.

Quality program maturity is generally not uniform and there are potentially many opportunities for substantial improvement across various sectors by specific industry. Partnering with suppliers is a recommended approach for sectors lagging in quality maturity.

This research extends the examination of quality management practice in the supply chain by studying a large number of industry classes and supply chain positions and assesses differences in quality maturity across these classes and positions.

Purpose – Revisiting Fornell et al.'s (1996) seminal study, this chapter looks at the evidence for observed and unobserved heterogeneity within data underlying the American customer satisfaction index (ACSI) model. Examining data for two specific industries (utilities and hotels) reveals only modest differences. However, we suppose that unobserved heterogeneity critically affects the results. These insights provide the basis for shaping further differentiated ACSI model analyses and more precise interpretations.

Methodology/approach – This study applies the partial least squares (PLS) path modeling method and uses empirical data to estimate and compare the ACSI model results on the aggregate and industry-specific data levels. In addition, the finite mixture PLS path modeling (FIMIX-PLS) method is employed to further examine across industry similarities and within industry differences.

Findings – This research uncovers unobserved heterogeneity that guides forming three segments of customers within each industry. The major segment in each industry represents customers that are fairly loyal (i.e., neither disloyal nor extremely loyal) while the other two smaller segments are not as similar across the two industries. Our study identifies substantial differences across these segments within each industry. An importance-performance map analysis illustrates these differences and provides the basis for managerial implications.

Originality/value of the chapter – The unobserved heterogeneity revealed within industries in a given country (i.e., the United States of America) underlines the need to be open to differences within populations, beyond the observed heterogeneity across distinct groups or cultures, and the need to reconsider reporting requirements in academic research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate differences in compensation related to gender concentrations among industries at different organisation levels of management to identify gender‐based patterns of compensation at the macro level not investigated in previous studies that simply suggest industry or occupational differences. Findings provide guidance for selection processes, career path management for maximising compensation and policy‐making.

Data from the Current Population Surveys and the Standard and Poor's ExecuComp database were used to examine differences in compensation of managers and top executives.

Findings suggest that men and women must seek different paths and endpoints to optimize compensation. Maximising compensation for women requires working as a minority and changing industries. Men, on the other hand, may work in male‐dominated industries at every level or may move to female‐dominated industries at the managerial and executive levels and still receive equitable pay.

The paper was conducted on a USA sample so further research should examine data from other countries.

In practice, this paper suggests that men and women must seek different paths and endpoints to optimize compensation. Human resource managers should be aware of these potential biases and try to rectify them within their organisations through the use of appropriate selection and compensation practices. At the macro‐level, policy‐makers can identify patterns of inequity to address.

Gender‐related difference studies of compensation offer little understanding about how to maximise compensation during one's management career as it progresses through management levels and across industries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore location effects on firm performance in emerging economies simultaneously accounting for permanent and transitory country, industry, country-industry and firm-specific effects.

The authors utilize a novel methodological approach: an autoregressive, cross-classified, mixed-effect linear regression model that allows them to simultaneously estimate a permanent (long-run) component, a transitory (short-run) component and the speed of decay of the transitory (autoregressive) component.

The authors find that the firm-specific effect is most important in explaining permanent and transitory differences. The country–industry interaction is the second most important effect, confirming that industries are not completely global and are still subject to country conditions. Broader views of the country–business context and industry conditions taken independently would be incomplete unless the country–industry interactions are considered. In other words, country matters because industry matters and vice versa. Country effects are also significant, but only transitory emphasizing the dynamic nature of emerging economies and the shortcomings that may result from considering the country business context static. Finally, the authors find that the chances of achieving sustainability of abnormal returns in emerging economies are dynamic and have significantly increased recently.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first to simultaneously estimate country, industry, country–industry and firm effects on the permanent and transitory components of abnormal returns in a sample of emerging economies. The study generates important evidence regarding the sources of sustainable differentiation for firms competing in emerging economies. Finally, the authors find that chances of achieving sustainability of abnormal returns in emerging economies are dynamic and have significantly increased recently.